The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
One of my toughest challenges personally that I have faced since a young age is dyslexia, in environments that didn’t teach in a way that I learn. I couldn’t learn in a traditional way, it just wasn’t how my mind worked. I learnt through living and experiencing the world around me, not through remembering facts. This meant that so many of the courses and professions I had wanted to follow in life always felt so out of reach to me. I attempted university, but quickly realised I was great at playing hockey and partying – I just wasn’t so great at the work and the study.
So, I had to take a different direction if I wanted to bring my passions to life. I continued my personal development and put thousands of pounds and a lot of time into following my heart’s desires. I was dedicated in my personal quest and continued to study, grow and heal alongside courses, trainings and work over the years, always feeling like I wasn’t good enough as I couldn’t get that degree to become a professional. It has taken me till now to realise that I could never have gone to university to learn what I know now and I am an expert in what I do. Not only that, but I am a very proud layperson. I work with women through personal contact, with my own wisdom and intuition – there is no certificate for my life! My work is part of the collective of women bringing back the flow of wisdom through our communities. Through sister circles, through red tents, we are finding ourselves again and healing. Whilst ensuring that our wisdom remains sacred and can continue again through our female lines, within our chosen communities.
As a mother, the toughest challenges I have faced have been with my two eldest children.
In 2015, our middle son became incredibly ill with a life-threatening condition. It was heart breaking for us all. I think I lived in tears for months on end while we again fought for someone to listen and help us with our son. He had become Erythrodermic and we were told that he would have red raw skin covering his body for the rest of his life. All we were being offered was steroid creams and immune system suppressant drugs and again, no one listened to us. I was sure his issue was stemming from his gut, but I kept being told by specialist dermatologists that there is no connection between skin issues and the gut! This just didn’t feel real or right… after weeks of scrolling through everything I could find online, and trying so many natural remedies, we eventually found our way to a naturopath, Hamish, in Plymouth, who confirmed what I had known all along: our son’s issues were coming from his gut. He suggested 5 natural supplements for our son to take, a few tweaks to our food habits and avoiding drinking water during meals. Within two weeks, our son was a completely changed boy. His teachers were commenting on how it seemed he had come alive again and finally I could calm my “mum alert” system. Through following my intuition and instincts we got to the root of the issue – my instincts were guiding.
In 2016, our eldest son started to suffer with his mental health at school and for two years we battled and fought to try and get his needs met. After two years and reaching breaking point, I realised our boy needed to be at home, to heal, to feel safe and to have the love of his family around him. His nervous system needed to settle and he needed to find himself again. He was traumatised and could not function across any area of his life. It took many years of deep work to help our son heal from the emotional traumas he had endured. After one year, we started to see him smile again, his facial tics had gone, and he was able to function a bit easier with simple tasks in life. After two years, it was like we had our son back. He was laughing again, playing, able to go out on family adventures and he started to live his life again. He has been home educated for 7 years now and we have never looked back.
These were some of the toughest challenges I have ever had to overcome. I honestly felt so broken and like a complete failure as a mother during those years. I was powerless to help my children. But through having the strength of my own gut intuition, I followed my instincts and was able to help both our children out of those dark days. It made us closer and stronger as a family, and it woke me up to the importance of holistic care, trusting my intuition and having confidence in myself. It took us down a road of home education and I finally started to feel like a mother to my family.
For better or for worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The pros are finally creating my unique programme and bringing this out is like revealing a part of myself that only existed inside for decades. It feels so good to finally be bringing this vision to life.
Having a partner who has believed in me and what I do has been such an important element to this – to have even got to this point of creating my programme, hugely down to the unwavering support and guidance he has given me over the last 16 years. He has continued to hold space for me while I intensely delved into each new subject. I would become immersed in my passions. I had to feel and see it all from all angles to make sense of it, each subject taking over my thoughts and conversations, just so I could work out what was relevant to my quest. Whilst I wasn’t even sure what I was piecing together, he had absolutely no idea… but he had faith in me and said that no matter what I become passionate about, good always came from it for our family. Having someone who has faith in you in this way brings a feeling like no other and I’m not sure I would have got to this point without his belief in me.
I also get to schedule my work around my family!
As for cons, as I’m at the early stages of bringing my programme online, I am having to learn everything about everything to do with online business. It’s the most hands-on business course I’ve ever done and I am useless at the tech. I know it’s good that I learn all of this, as I know it will come in handy for our boys and home education life too, but I do look forward to when I can start growing a team and can hand over the bits I enjoy less!!
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I feel like I’m always seeking that next chapter in life and I do have to stay focused on making the small things happen in the here and now, just so that I get to the next bit and bring all of this into fruition. I’m ready to bring my wisdom forwards and to become part of this global shift happening where women are taking charge of their families and healing our homes from the inside.
Our children’s minds, bodies and spirits are being protected by this generation of mothers who no longer want our children to carry the burdens from our past. To be part of this and to know I can now offer my life’s work forwards is an honour to me.
So, my next chapter is about me stepping in and bringing my skills to the world, helping women unravel their mother wounds and generation trauma, so they can find inner peace and bring healing to their mother lines, ensuring our wisdom is not lost again.
My course guides women back through their lives, looking at their ancestors, their mother lines, their birth stories, their lived experiences and how all of these create a vision for us to see our stories clearer and to help our hearts and souls heal so we can bring peace back into our homes.
Image credit: Stevie Bowers.
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